The Truth
by 4UISUNI2
Summary: After the Netherworld threat, Botan learns the truth about her father...
1. The Question

One Question One AnswerFour words, one 's POV

Growing up in the Spirit World, all I had was my mother. People always said that if I ever would change my hair to black, my mother and I could be twins. Except for the eyes. While she had beautiful pink eyes, I had purple. So I figured that I had my father's eyes. According to her, my father died a long time ago. No one to look into she said. He was no one important. I couldn't believe that my mother had lied to me. He had been someone important. I'm usually calm and collected like Yukina, but when I found out that my mother had lied to me, I lost it. I cried and screamed at her. I wonder how Yukina would feel when, or if, she ever found out that Hiei was her brother and that he always lied to protect her. Would she cry or scream? Would she ever forgive him? Or would she accept the fact that it was for protection for the both of them?

When I was younger, I always tried to ask questions about him and my mother would either give me a short answer or change the subject. I figured that it was still hard for her to talk about the love of her life that had died in her arms. I learned later in life that I would never get an answer from her.

But then Spirit World was threatened…

I still remember the threat like it was yesterday. That horrible, horrible storm. It wouldn't stop raining. I was helping out, trying to save documents when George bursts into the room. He came right up to me saying that Koenma wanted to see me right away in the treasure vault. I started to protest, saying that I needed to stay and finish what I was doing. He insisted that it was important and that he would take care of what I was doing. I summoned my oar to me and flew off in the direction of the vault.

George was right. It was important what Koenma was telling me. I needed to get the Power Sphere to Yusuke so no one from the Netherworld would ever be able to find it. He handed it to me wrapped up in a special cloth so it wouldn't hurt me. I could see the glow from the sphere from under the cloth as I stuck it inside my robe. He urged me to flee as quickly as I could. I summoned my oar again to me as the water rose higher and higher.

I flew off as Koenma, one of my best friends, was swept away by the current. Flying out a window, I turned. I saw one of my worst nightmares come true. Spirit World was disappearing before my very eyes, as if being swallowed by the storm. I bit back tears, but I felt some come loose as I shouted my best friends' name. I knew that if I shouted for my mother, I would have started crying. As tears stung my eyes, I felt the most horrid pain jolt through my body. I screamed as I fell. The next thing I saw was black… and I welcomed it.

The next thing I knew I was waking up in the Human world, on top of Yusuke's school. I could hardly believe my luck. It was exactly where I needed to be. I wanted to jump for joy, but I was in too much pain. I felt the sphere in my robe and I knew that it needed to be hidden. I used what spiritual energy I had and put it inside me. I felt like I was dying, it was so painful. I wouldn't be able to give it to Yusuke, but I'd be able to keep it under the radar for a while.

Standing up very slowly, I was able to walk to the edge. I knew that if I fell, someone would find me sooner or later. I would end up with something broken or a concussion, but I could live with that. And then I fell. I felt like I was falling forever, but I knew that hard, concrete ground was coming, and probably coming fast. But the ground came too soon and it wasn't hard like I thought it would be. I heard someone shouting my name. I woke to find Yusuke, and I went into hysterics. I couldn't tell him what happened to the Spirit World, but I was able to tell him to go to the Kasane Shrine and find Hinageshi. And then I welcomed the darkness again.

I felt something cool against my forehead, but my body was so warm and in so much pain that the thing on my forehead didn't matter. Then I felt something, something in my body wanting to get out. I knew that I couldn't let it. I had to fight it no matter what the cost. I cried out in agony. I suddenly felt myself in the air, my cries falling silent. I was blurring in and out of conscious. I could hear bits and pieces of the conversation that that man was having with Yusuke. All I could feel was being over someone's shoulder and leaving the safety of my friends.

I was able to get some energy back, waking up in mid air, I saw that man, whom I heard Yusuke call Yakumo, stick his hand inside my stomach. The sphere was reacting, burning. I knew I couldn't let him have it. I realized that this was the King of the Netherworld. I told him that I would never give it to him. He was able to grab the sphere and throw me over his shoulder to Hinageshi and Yusuke. I apologized to Hinageshi, I never wanted to put her in such a dangerous situation, knowing that she would eventually figure it out. Hinageshi held me when Yusuke got up to fight the King of the Netherworld. I could feel myself getting weaker and weaker now that the Power Sphere was out of my body. Running out of breath, I told Yusuke that I wasn't able to protect the Power Sphere, begging him to get it back. Right before I lost conscious, I remembered to add please. I don't remember what happened after that.

I woke up in Yusuke's arms feeling a lot better, well rested, but most of all safe. I wanted to cry cause I knew that it was over, yet there was something inside me that was sad. Like a part of me had died. So, I just stayed quiet. While getting carried back to Genkai's, Kuwabara told me almost all that had happened. Kurama and Hiei got a little tense when Yakumo's henchmen were mentioned, but I knew better than to ask.

When we got to Genkai's, I was shocked to see it in ruins. I asked Yusuke what happened and he told me that Yakumo had attacked the temple. I was speechless. I couldn't help but feel guilty like it was my fault. After getting hugs from Keiko, Yukina, and to my surprise Genkai, I was able to rest, and after two weeks of resting and light cleaning, I returned home.

I returned to my little apartment that I shared with my mother. I burst through the door, slamming it shut and fell into my mother's sudden opened arms. Collapsing on the floor, she just held me, letting me soak her kimono in tears, telling I was her brave little girl. When I finally calmed down, I was able to ask the question that had been bothering me for two weeks.

"Who is my father?"


	2. The Answer

Chapter 2

Ten words, one answer

My mother, Raven, was everything to me. She was my rock. The one person that I could go to and complain to about anything and everything, laugh and cry with. I always believed her on everything. And as far as I knew, she had always told me the truth. So after calming down from crying, I gathered up the courage to ask her.

"Who is my father?"

I felt my mother tense up. I let go of her and she was looking at me in shock. Like she never expected that question out of my mouth ever again. My mother stood from the floor and helped me up.

"He's no one important. Sweetie, I told you this long ago. Why do you ask now? After all these years?" she questioned. With that, she walked into the kitchen her back towards me.

I hesitated. Do I dare tell her? Do I dare mention that, when I was telling Yakumo that I would never give him the Power Sphere, I noticed that the King of the Netherworld had the same color of eyes that I had? I decided that I had to.

"Mom, when Spirit World was under water, I had to put the Power Sphere inside me and fly off to Human World. While there, the Human World was attacked and almost made into the Netherworld. And the leader of that little group was Yakumo," I answered.

If I thought my mother had been tense before, she became a statue when I mentioned "Netherworld" and "Yakumo".

I continued, "And I couldn't help but notice Yakumo's eyes. They were purple, like mine are."

"Lots of peoples eyes are purple," Raven replied.

"Name three."

"Koi, Lillith, and Somi," the swift answers came out in a rush.

Koi has brown, Lillith has hazel, and Somi has one blue and one brown," I countered. "Mother, what are you hiding from me?"

Raven sighed heavily. She knew that she had to tell Botan the truth, she couldn't erase her past, no matter how much it haunted her. Raven wanted to take the secret of Botan's father to her grave, even though Koenma had found out and she begged and pleaded with him to keep it a secret from everyone else. He agreed. Raven was glad that Koenma trusted her daughter even though he knew of her heritage. Raven turned towards her daughter, her heart heavy with haunt and guilt. Botan was waiting for her to tell her story. Raven headed over to the couch, sat down, and motioned for Botan to do the same. As soon as Botan sat down, Raven took one of her daughter's hands and held it.

"The last time I saw your father was when we conceived you. At the time, there was a compromise between Spirit World and the Netherworld. Certain ferries were able to take souls or spirits there if the Spirit World couldn't handle them. We had one very strict rule, no talking to anyone. But a certain someone had caught my eye. And I had caught his. I didn't even know who he was until he came up and introduced himself. We ended up talking every time I went to the Netherworld. I broke the important rule of no talking to anyone, but I couldn't help it. I had fallen in love.

About a year into the "relationship" we had to be extra cautious. Situations were getting tense between the Spirit World and the Netherworld so we had to be extremely careful. I ended up sneaking out to the Netherworld one night and meeting your father at the gates. When we would meet up we would usually just talk, but that night he surprised me. He asked if he could kiss me. Speechless, all I could do was nod.

At first, the kiss was soft and gentle like a feather. Then the kiss turned into kisses, getting more and more passionate each time…"

"MOM! TMI!" interrupted Botan, pinching the bridge of her nose, shaking her head as if that would remove the image of her mother making out from her head.

"Ah, sorry, well you get where that was going. Then about a week after that night, things with the Netherworld went south. The compromise ended. No one was allowed to enter or even go near the lands of the Netherworld. Apparently, the ruler had gotten it in his head that he needed to get new land. King Enma banished them further into the abyss. I found out that it was your father that had broken the compromise. Trying to gather an army to invade lands. And then about five weeks after that, I found out that I was expecting a baby…" Raven trailed off.

Botan was staring at her mother. The ruler… the ruler of the Netherworld had broken the compromise by trying to gather an army and taking over new land. She was thankful that there hadn't been an army in the Human World or else the guys, her friends, her human family, would have probably been killed and the Human World would have become the new Netherworld. But she had to know.

"Mom, is my father who I think it is?" Botan asked her mother, silently pleading with herself that it wasn't true. That her biological father wasn't…

Pink eyes full of sadness and sympathy met purple eyes of disbelief, anger, guilt, and sadness.

"Yakumo, the King of the Netherworld, was your father Botan," whispered Raven, looking into her daughter's eyes.


	3. The Fallout

Chapter 3

"Yakumo, the King of the Netherworld, was your father Botan," whispered Raven, looking into her daughter's eyes.

The room was filled with silence. Botan was reeling all the information in. Her mother got pregnant by the man who tried to kill her and her friends. Threatened her home. Almost destroyed the Human World. And then was killed by her best guy friends. She didn't know how to feel. She felt glad that she finally knew who her father was, but sad that she would never know him even if he were still alive. Guilty that she was part of the man that had tried to kill her best friends and threaten her homeland, yet hatred towards him for doing all those things as well.

Her friends, she didn't know how to react towards them. Should she hate them for killing her father or pride in them for saving the Human World? She should be grateful that they saved her life, but she was pained by the fact that they killed someone who should have meant a lot to her.

As for her mother… Her mother was looking at her as if willing her to say something. So she decided to get her words out.

"You lied to me." Botan blurted, taking back her hand.

"Yes," Raven replied calmly.

"Why? You knew who my father was. You said that he was no one important. That he died in your arms…" Botan could feel the anger in her start to boil. Standing up she started to pace back and forth. She wanted to hit her mother. She wanted to hurt something. She started to wonder if this is how the guys felt when their families or friends were being threatened.

"Your father did die in my arms. The man who he became afterwards was not the man I fell in love with. When I found out what your father had done, he did become of no one importance," explained Raven, also standing on her feet, watching her daughter.

"So you told me your half of the truth," Botan accused her, coming to a halt in front of her.

"I didn't know how to tell you," Raven explained.

"You could have just told me," Botan spat.

"I wanted to protect you from him…" Raven began.

Botan snapped. "NEWSFLASH MOM! IT DIDN'T WORK! HE TRIED TO KILL ME AND MY FRIENDS! HE ALMOST DESTROYED THE HUMAN WORLD!" Botan shouted, her body shaking with rage and hurt. Her eyes gathering tears, threatening to fall.

"AND HOW WOULD THAT HAVE CHANGED THINGS?" yelled Raven, her voice turning icy.

"I COULD HAVE TRIED TO TALK HIM OUT OF IT!" shrieked Botan. "I COULD HAVE TOLD HIM THAT I WAS HIS DAUGHTER!"

SMACK!

There was a stunned silence in the room. Raven's right hand covered her mouth in shock. Botan's head was stuck to the right, her cheek turning red from the slap she received from her mother. Slowly, she raised her left hand to her cheek, turning her head to look at her mother.

Raven took a step to her daughter, "Botan…"

Botan took a step back. "Don't. Don't touch me."

Raven froze. Looking at her daughter, she saw hatred and pain in those purple eyes. Raven felt a tear run down her cheek. "Botan…"

"I hate you."

As soon as those three words came out in a hiss from Botan's mouth, she knew that she had succeeded in hurting her mother. Not physically, like she had wanted to, but emotionally. Looking away from her mother, she turned and quickly walked to her room. Not bothering to turn on her overhead light, she fumbled around her messy room until she was able to collapse onto her bed. Turning her head into the pillow to muffle her screams, she felt the rush of tears. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Botan was able to cry herself to sleep.


	4. AN

Author's Note

To my readers: Sorry! I'm at a current writers block at the moment. And I noticed that I haven't been putting up disclaimers… Oops.

So… I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho, if I did, Sakyo would still be alive. The only two things I own in this story is the plot and Raven.


	5. An Explanation

I'm back! I've had writers block for a long time, plus I'm trying to write my first Thor fanfiction.

I own nothing except the plot and Raven...

Read, Review, & Enjoy! :D

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><p>Chapter 4<p>

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

Botan awoke the next morning to the sound of her alarm clock going off. There was nothing more that she wanted to do than throw the stinkin' thing across the room and have it be smashed into a million little pieces, but instead, she just turns it off. Grumbling to herself, she tries to remember the last time she woke up to her alarm clock. Every morning her mother…

Oh.

Now Botan remembered why she set her alarm. Cause every morning her mother would wake her up to the smells of breakfast in the morning, Botan would come out to the kitchen to join her and they would sit at the table and just talk. Breakfast started in forty-five minutes, so she had to work fast if she wanted to avoid her mother.

In record time, Botan had eaten, showered, dressed, brushed her teeth, and was headed out the door. As she was unlocking the door, she heard her mother starting to get around. Botan wasted no time in getting out the door and re-locking it. But she paused as the night before flashed in her mind. She regretted what she said, but she wasn't ready to face her mother.

Flying to the palace, Botan wondered how Koenma would handle the news. Being the daughter of the ruler of the Netherworld, it wasn't going to be easy to tell the son of the ruler of the Spirit World. The realization of the truth was haunting her. Would Koenma tell his father that she was Yakumo's daughter? What would happen to her if he did tell his father? Botan could feel the color drain from her face as she got closer and closer to the palace.

Once inside, Botan headed straight to Koenma's office. Ignoring all shouts and calls and orders barking around her by everyone, she went straight inside. Sitting at his desk, sucking on his pacifier, stamping away like there was no tomorrow was her… well, after she told him the news, she didn't know anymore. Koenma was her best friend, but would he turn on her?

"Koenma, can we talk?" Botan questioned as she shut the enormous doors behind her.

"Not now Botan, I need to get these documents done and sent to my dad," Koenma answered, still stamping.

"And I need to tell to you about my dad," Botan shot back.

At those words, Koenma stopped, his hand pausing by the stack of papers that needed to be stamped. Putting his hand down, Koenma sighed.

"What do you need to tell me?" asked Koenma.

"I don't know how to tell you this…" Botan replied, rocking on the balls of her feet.

"Then just spit it out," Koenma ordered her, shocked that she was nervous.

"Yakumo was my father," blurted Botan, wringing her hands together, nervous about what was to come her way.

Sighing. Koenma placed his head between his hands.

"I know," said Koenma.

"I know that this could ruin everything but…" Botan paused. Koenma's words sunk in slowly. "Wait, you knew?"

"Yes, I knew the whole time. Your mother swore me to secrecy when she found out. We were protecting you."

"But I was his daughter, why couldn't you tell me?" whispered Botan, sinking into a chair, in shock. Her best friend knew the entire time that she was Yakumo's child and he never told her.

But that didn't answer her question.

"Botan, how well do you know the laws of the Netherworld?" Koenma questioned her.

"Not well," Botan replied.

"Well, it's not like ours. If the leader doesn't produce an heir, the demons will fight their way into power. It does make a difference as to who is in power. To be honest, we were lucky with Yakumo. He gave us little trouble until he tried to gather an army to take over the Human World and nearly destroyed the Spirit World. Raven and I weren't lying when we said we were protecting you," Koenma began.

"From what?" Botan asked, her voice pleading, as if begging for answers.

"From your father," the smooth reply came easily from Koenma.

"What?" Botan became more confused.

"Botan, do you like your life the way it is now?" asked Koenma.

"Of course I do…" Botan replied, thinking about her friends and mother.

"Well if Yakumo had known about you, he would have taken you from your mother and your friends. He may have even declared war until he got you. You would have been taken to the Netherworld and been raised to be ready to rule after Yakumo's death. You wouldn't have been able to leave, never would have seen your mother again, and never would have met Yusuke, and that would mean that you wouldn't have met the others. Which means, no memories of the life you have now," Koenma explained.

Botan sat in silence. Her mother HAD been protecting her. And she threw it back in her face. Her mother knew that she would lose her daughter if Yakumo found out. Then she would have probably had to have helped Yakumo… her father, take over the Human World. She wouldn't have known the guys or Hinageshi so… would she have been able to help nearly kill or destroy them?

"How else do you think you were able to survive so long with the Power Sphere inside your body? Had you not been half Netherworld, you would have died immediately. But since you had the power of the Netherworld and the will and fight in you, you survived," finished Koenma.

"So, thanks to my father, I survived the Power Sphere when it was in its Netherworld state?" Botan concluded.

"Yes."

Silence swept through out the room. Koenma noticed that Botan's eyes had glazed over. That wasn't good.

"Botan, you still here?" asked Koenma.

"Sorry, distracted," Botan apologized, shaking her head.

"Understandable, but I need you here with me," exclaimed Koenma.

"Yes sir."

"Good, now I need you to take this to Yusuke. And I have to get back to work," Koenma said, handing Botan a manila envelope, dismissing her.

Taking the envelope and walking out of the room, Botan wondered just what was in there.

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><p>Dun, dun, dun...<p>

Oh what could be in the envelope...


	6. AN 2

**Sadly I have hit writers block :( But as soon as I can get through the block, I will be posting chapters ASAP. I hope that you all have a great holiday and a wonderful New Year! **


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